Jarrett Allen is the Cleveland Cavaliers center of the future

The Cleveland Cavaliers swooped in on the James Harden deal, and came away with a steal in Jarrett Allen.

As the rest of the NBA and fans across the world waited for a James Harden trade to happen, it was never a worry if it would happen, it was more of when, as he reportedly wanted out from the Houston Rockets.

In terms of the reported details involved with the deal in which Harden was sent to the Brooklyn Nets, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne, and Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, you can view those here. The deal involved the Indiana Pacers and Cleveland Cavaliers as well, and again, the reported details are noted in that link.

Cleveland sent Dante Exum to Houston, to go with their Milwaukee Bucks’ 2022 first-rounder (unprotected), and a 2024 second-rounder to the Nets (the lesser of theirs of the Utah Jazz’s), and they acquired Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince from the Nets.

When it comes to the Cavs, some may have the initial reaction wondering why Cleveland would trade for another big man when they already had too many on their roster to begin with before this trade. Let’s be honest; if you think the Cavs are keeping Kevin Love, Andre Drummond, JaVale McGee and Larry Nance Jr. after this Allen acquisition before this year’s trade deadline hits, you may want to re-think your stance.

Joe Vardon of The Athletic seemingly alluded to that element, too, and for what it’s worth, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com reported (subscription required) that Cleveland has “already received calls” about McGee. Fedor, as a few brief notes, also reported how Cleveland would be waiving Thon Maker and Yogi Ferrell in corresponding moves on Wednesday, and reported how Cleveland used its $3.9 million trade exception from the Jordan Clarkson-Exum deal to compensate Allen, for reference.

To drive it home here, though, the crucial element here is that Allen is only 22 years old. The Cavs virtually got their center of the future and a solid rotational player in Taurean Prince for Dante Exum, a 2024 second-rounder and a 2022 first-round pick that has a very good chance of being in the late 20’s in that first round. Steal?

I think so, and in the case with Allen, Drummond doesn’t appear to be a long-term piece, and Allen is a player, based on Fedor’s report, that’d project to be locked up or a player whose potential restricted free agency offer sheet would be matched. He looks to be their long-term 5.

Allen is the Cavs center of the future.

Allen is averaging a double-double this season so far, recording 11.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game for Brooklyn, and he’s had 1.6 blocks per game, and is a proven rim protector with a healthy career block rate of 4.4 percent. Allen has started for the Nets the past two seasons, albeit not this season, but he’s helped lead them to the playoffs.

And Allen is also only going to get better, making this trade an absolute steal. You would think you would be able to get something decent in return for a guy like Andre Drummond, but it won’t be a simple task to find matching for his $28.7 million salary for this season.

Cavs general manager Koby Altman has handled this rebuild in an amazing fashion so far. Cleveland Cavaliers fans just have to be patient, because once all these young guys get playing time together and mesh, they could be a playoff team in the next few years.

When considering the Cavs young core, which feasibly includes a soon-to-be 21-year-old Darius Garland, a 22-year-old Collin Sexton, a 20-year-old Kevin Porter Jr., a 19-year-old Isaac Okoro, and realistically a 25-year-old Cedi Osman and 24-year-old Dylan Windler, Allen is another in that realm.

As the Cavs continue to weather the storm this season with the injury bug and COVID-19 still being relevant, there are two things I would like to see happen the rest of this season.

#1: Get healthy.

The sooner this team gets healthy, the sooner they will mesh together and the sooner we will be able to see what we really have, and fortunately, it’d seem that Garland (right shoulder sprain) and Sexton (left ankle sprain) should seemingly be back pretty soon.

#2: Trade Andre Drummond.

It’s all love for big Dre, but Altman needs to do what is best for the team, and I’m sure he will, as he has been doing it for the past few years. If they were to hold onto Drummond through the deadline, though, and have more in terms of cap savings, that might be a reasonable move, too, anyhow.

Again, the Cavs are definitely heading in the right direction. If Altman can continue to make the right moves, this team will be primed for a playoff season in the near future.